


Back from the Dead

by devilinthedetails



Category: PIERCE Tamora - Works, Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Ambition, Charm, Gen, M/M, Magic, Manipulation, Plotting, Politics, Resurrection, hunger, unhealthy relationship dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-16 07:21:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14806878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devilinthedetails/pseuds/devilinthedetails
Summary: Alex and Roger reunite after Roger's resurrection.





	Back from the Dead

Back from the Dead

Alex stared at Roger as if he were a mirage in the gray fog that often blanketed the green rolling hills of Tirragen like lamb’s wool, and perhaps Roger, standing in the threshold of Alex’s bedchamber as he had once straddled the thin line separating life from death, sensed the disbelief behind his scrutiny for Roger lifted an eyebrow that made Alex’s cheeks burn like cinders. 

“I can’t believe you’re back from the dead.” Alex was embarrassed to be caught gawking like a lovestruck lady fresh from the convent, mooning over strong knights as she made her court debut, but he hid his awkwardness behind his roughest voice. 

“I’ll be back from the dead for awhile.” Roger stepped into Alex’s bedchamber, kicking the door shut behind him, and cupped Alex’s chin between his palms. Instinctively expecting Roger’s skin to be cold as the crypt from which he had been resurrected, Alex shivered at Roger’s touch, which turned out to be warm as spring sunshine. He should have smelled of rot, too, but instead of reeking of decay, the rich aroma of the exotic scent he ordered from Carthak clung to his hair and beard. “My dear uncle has decreed that a traitor is only required to forfeit his life for his crime once, and since I appear to be on my second life, I’ll be allowed to keep it. Also, as he would prefer that my treason remain buried in the past where it can harm no one, he is leaving my lands and titles intact.” 

“I knew you’d be able to charm the king to generosity.” Alex struggled to steady his tone as his lips twitched under Roger’s deft finger strokes.

“Speaking of charm”—Roger removed his finger from Alex’s lips and replaced it with a mouth that ate at Alex as hungrily as worms would a corpse—“Delia claims it was she who seduced Thom but I suspect it was more you who convinced arrogant young Thom to meddle in magic that was beyond his comprehension.” 

Alex, who knew that power was found in the shadows where people could be swayed in secret and not in the bright center of attention Delia craved as a drunkard did ale, bit back a gasp as Roger’s tongue prodded at depths of him he always aimed to conceal. “What makes you think I persuaded Thom?” 

“You’re the only one I entrusted with the knowledge of how to make me rise again should I appear to die.” Roger’s hands knotted in Alex’s dark hair, and Alex remembered another conversation where Roger’s fingers had tangled there. 

( “You seem quieter than usual.” Roger’s palm rippled through Alex’s hair like a breeze off the Olorun as they curled together beneath silk from the Copper Isles that tickled Alex’s skin with a sensation as forbidden and tantalizing as a whisper of treason. 

“What do you think death is like?” Alex leaned closer to Roger so he could tuck his head in the taut curve between Roger’s chin and chest. 

“You’re so morbid.” Roger made a musically chiding noise of tongue clicking against pearl teeth. “Anyway, I don’t think I’ll ever discover what death is like, Alex. Instead of dying, I plan to fall into a Sorcerer’s Sleep from which you must awaken me…” 

“How?” Alex interrupted, glancing up at Roger as if his one face had abruptly been transfigured into three. “I’m no mage.” 

“You’ll find the most powerful mage on the right side of the grave and have him—or her—awaken me from my slumber.” Roger’s soft smile contrasted with the sharp tug he gave Alex’s hair. The tug hurt, making Alex’s vision swim with silver stars, but pain only honed his focus to a dagger’s blade. “I’m depending on you, and you must not disappoint me.” 

“I live to serve you.” Alex’s words were dry but because they were true, not because they were sarcastic. Somehow, Alex had been bewitched so that his once wild ambition was channelled to serving the duke’s dreams. “I’ll never fail you.) 

With the vow he had offered so long ago echoing in his ears, Alex murmured into Roger’s mouth, “I might have confided to Delia what we needed Thom to do to restore you.” 

“Very clever.” Roger tilted away from Alex to chuckle softly. “That way the court’s attention would be on her as she charmed Thom with her delicious feminine wiles while you could tempt him from the cover of the shadows where nobody would be able to prove or even suspect anything.” 

“Why would you imagine I tempted Thom?” Alex had indeed seduced Thom in the shadows—he had manipulated Thom’s desperate desire to prove he was the mightiest mage in the world since he could see from the moment he met Thom that Thom blazed with the same ambition as his fire-topped, purple-eyed twin—but Roger could be jealous. It was best not to spark his envy or his possessiveness if Alex wished to avoid being scorched. 

“Thom seems quite immune to female beauty.” Roger’s gaze was suddenly cold as a glacier, and Alex froze even as he felt burned by Roger’s jealousy. “That means it must have been you who tempted him.” 

“I made him hunger.” Alex licked his lips and tasted the salt of sweat. “I made him prove his power. I didn’t give him anything, though. I saved everything for you. I remained faithful to you.” 

“You played with Thom as a cat would a mouse.” Roger’s temper faded into a laugh that didn’t entirely ease the tension coiled into Alex’s shoulders. “Brilliant.” 

“I was your squire.” Alex couldn’t resist a crooked grin. “I learned a trick or two from you.” 

“Now I’m back from the dead.” Roger pulled Alex against him, and Alex felt a hardness swelling in the duke’s breeches. “I’ll have to teach you another trick or two to prove that I’ve risen again.”


End file.
